Areas of interest

Our areas of strength and interest include cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular, ageing, immunology, pain, scarring and infection although we are interested in any projects that offer patient benefit

We are using targeted funding to move these projects across the translation gap, illustrated below (adapted from McCammon et al., 2014) 

areas of interest

Why do we need to do this?  Well, the major challenge academics face is gaining funding to bridge the gap between areas supported by research councils and charities towards generating data that would make a project attractive for commercial investment.  This lack of funding can be a barrier to the translation of the most exciting work into patient benefit and is confounded by a lack of expertise to assess project value (McCammon et al, 2014). 

Here at the University of Birmingham, we have considerable expertise in drug discovery ranging from target biology to medicinal chemistry and on-site HTS through to direct clinical access and clinical trials expertise. 

We also have an extensive network of aligned internal and external experts with the passion and experience to select and drive the right drug projects plus the experts to make the right connections with Pharma and VCs to capitalise on opportunities. 

Work with us!  Contact us here

McCammon, M., Pio, E., Barakat, S. et al   Corporate venture capital and Cambridge. Nat Biotechnol 32, 975–978 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3029